90'+2 Substitution

Dimitar Berbatov scored on his return to White Hart Lane as Fulham secured a famous 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon.

Following a largely uneventful first half, the Bulgarian finished neatly from Sascha Riether’s cross on 52 minutes to earn his side a well earned three points in North London.

Martin Jol’s team were organised and disciplined throughout, with Spurs’ attacking threat well neutralised, while they were also threatening going forward, with Ashkan Dejagah and Damien Duff each putting in a tireless shift on the flanks.

The home side twice came close to an equaliser through Jermain Defoe, only to find Mark Schwarzer in inspired form as the Whites held on to move back into the top half of the Barclays Premier League table.

Jol named an unchanged side from the one that drew 2-2 with Sunderland more than two weeks ago, while Eyong Enoh made the matchday squad for the first time as he took his place on the bench.

Spurs kicked off and within the first minute Gareth Bale capitalised on a piece of miscontrol from John Arne Riise, but Brede Hangeland got back to deny the in-form Welshman a shot on goal at the expense of a corner.

The home side were enjoying plenty of the ball and came within a whisker of taking the lead in the seventh minute when Bale’s header from a Gylfi Sigurdsson corner was headed off the line by Riether.

Tottenham were looking to play everything through Mousa Dembele in the middle of the park, with the former Fulham favourite at the heart of most of their play. The Belgian was proving difficult to shrug off the ball and Dejagah was shown a yellow card for his efforts to do just that on 16 minutes.

Neither side was having much luck creating chances, with wild efforts by Bale and Steve Sidwell both flying over the crossbar in a first half low on quality in the final third.

A pinpoint crossfield pass from Giorgos Karagounis on 43 minutes found Berbatov down the right flank and the former White Hart Lane hero’s centred ball almost caught Hugo Lloris out, but the Frenchman cleared it at the second attempt after spilling initially.

Sigurdsson went as close as anyone to scoring as stoppage time approached but while his shot was hit firm and true, it was never likely to trouble Schwarzer as it flew high and wide.

Andre Villas-Boas made an attacking alteration at half-time, with the familiar face of Clint Dempsey taking to the field in place of captain Michael Dawson.

The first shot on target of the second period came on 51 minutes as Schwarzer comfortably held Bale’s low drive, before Fulham immediately went up the other end to open the scoring.

Dejagah played in Riether - who had made a trademark run in behind – and the German slid the ball across the face for Berbatov to tuck home an effort beyond Lloris and inside the far post. Our top scorer’s celebration was muted in respect to his former employers.

The goal seemed to inject a huge confidence boost into Fulham’s play. First, Sidwell’s deflected effort from distance needed two attempts from Lloris to claim the greasy ball, before Hangeland headed marginally wide following a corner.

Villas-Boas made another positive change shortly after the hour mark as Defoe came on for Sigurdsson, before another substitution was made on 67 minutes in the guise of Tom Carroll, with Dembele the man replaced.

Defoe had a great opportunity to equalise on 70 minutes when the ball fell to him inside the penalty area but his shot was too close to Schwarzer who blocked magnificently. Then, neat footwork from Carroll saw the youngster evade two challenges 40 yards from goal which gave him the space to play Bale in. Luckily for Fulham, Schwarzer read the situation impeccably and was out quickly to smother.

Jol then played his first card as Enoh was given a debut as he took Karagounis’ place in the Fulham engine room.

The game was almost won for the away side with five minutes left but Dejagah couldn’t get enough of an angle on his header having risen well to connect with Bryan Ruiz’s cross. He got it back across the face with Lloris stranded, but it was lacking the diagonal trajectory required to find the net.

Fulham were holding firm but it required a world-class save from Schwarzer to deny Defoe once more on 90 minutes. Bale had broken with pace before squaring to the England man who looked certain to score only for the Australian custodian to deny him superbly.

A few more valuable seconds were then taken up as Ruiz made way for Urby Emanuelson and Fulham saw the four minutes of added time come and go to secure a huge three points.